Markets Rise as Credit Eases

Stocks rose at the open today, as investors saw signs the credit markets are easing, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow rose 104 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P saw modest 1.5% and 1.2% bumps, respectively. Stocks in Europe and Asia generally rose as well. We could be “near the end of a very extreme panic,” one analyst said said, thanks mainly to government action.

The overnight lending rate tumbled to 1.5125% from Friday’s 1.66875%, bringing it within a whisker of the Fed’s 1.5% target. Oil rose $1.68, to $73.81 a barrel. Among US stocks, AIG rose 8.1% pre-market on reports that Prudential PLC might buy its Asian operations, while NRG energy jumped 27% on reports Exelon was attempting to buy it for $6.2 billion. (More markets stories.)